Zooming with Tan and Ooi Ladies

How amazing technology has been for us family members who are far flung across the globe.

Me in Texas, Mom's sister in Arizona, Mom in Malaysia and Older/Eldest Sister in Singapore.

Silliness

The hubs being silly

Happiness is..

... getting the grass mowed because I really DO need things to be in some sort of order.  

The Four Corners

Since the undergrowth/grass was still short from the winter season, and we were pretty sure there weren't any chiggers out quite yet, the hubs thought he would show the little boy the extent of our property.

It isn't very large for out here, but we trekked from one corner to the next and enjoyed the bright warm sunshine.

Boil Water Notice Lifted!

Hurrah!

Water Woes Ending?

 Fingers crossed for water supply and quality to be back to normal!

Hello, Sun Beam

After so many days, Silky was finally able to find a little Spot of Sunshine to warm himself up :)

A Frosty Evening Walk

It was finally warm enough, with today's high of 64°F, for us to venture outside for a walk. Just yesterday, the high had been a mere 40°F, and 25°F the day before that.

Still Melting Snow Part II

It is a good thing we still have a bunch of pristine-ish snow outside that can be melted for washing. Before this, One could not have imagined just how much water is needed for washing alone - washing ANYTHING and EVERYTHING.

Watch Your Head

Seeing how the sun was out today, I ventured outside to remind myself what the world looked like again.

I was greeted by the most massive icicles I had ever laid eyes on.

Do NOT be standing under these when temperatures go above freezing again.

Still melting snow

We are still under a boil water notice ( even for washing ), and so I thought I would keep melting snow to use.

Blue Skies and Warm Hearts

The SUN is OUT today! Sooo lovely to see the blue skies once more.

I mentioned I had been following our local community facebook page, and it was so heartening to see so many people reaching out to the neighbors who might not have been as fortunate during this historical freeze event.

At Least There is Plenty of Snow

The pipes have been dry, but we had several jugs of drinking/cooking water put aside before that happened.  

As for washing and cleaning, I have been gathering up snow from the massive mounds outside and melting them down on the stove and in the instant pot.  I have since learned that you need massive amounts of snow to yield a small amount of water.

I shan't complain. Our power has stayed on, and we have plenty of propane for the stove.

On a positive note, there has been some restoration of power to The City, enough to start up the Water Treatment Plants again.

We await the latest news with much eager anticipation.

Ye Olde Pendleton Blanket

The hubs bought this for me on my first visit to meet him way back in 2003.  It is very beautiful and all, but I never did use it back in Good Ol' Tropical Malaysia.  I lugged it all the way back here to the States when I came back for good to stay :)

It hasn't seen much action here in Texas either.  It just was never cold enough to break out this lovely blanket that has much sentimental value.

In the last week, it has seen PLENTY of action.

Every blanket in the house had a vital part to play in this ongoing February Freeze.

More Tales from the Frozen South.

I woke up this morning and noticed a layer of ice in the cat's water dish that was on the floor.  Indoors.

That is how cold we are getting in here, even with heaters going.

A quick check with the official site showed these numbers overnight.

AND we happen to be the LUCKY ones whose electricity miraculously is still up and going.

SOOO many people are experiencing power outages and have no heat in their homes. 

Our personal electricity provider/company has thousands of homes they are trying to return power to.

However, with all this power out everywhere, we are likely to lose WATER very soon. I have been following our local community facebook page very closely to make sure we are up to date with everything that is going on.

Light at the End of the Tunnel

But more challenges ahead before we get there.

A White and Very Frozen World

The windows are very much iced over...

Snow keeps falling..

The temperatures keep falling...

And there are power outages all over the place for different reasons....

... with possibilities of "rotating outages" to make sure we don't overload the grid.

Meanwhile, I'm keeping my cell phone charged up as much as possible, and trying to conserve energy.  Without the heating, though, it would pretty much be freezing in here.